Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A suicide attack outside a mosque near the northeastern Iraqi city of Baquba killed at least 26 people and wounded 50 others during a reconciliation meeting of Sunni and Shiite Muslim officials.

The bomber set off an explosive belt at the gathering in the village of Shifta, in Diyala province, late yesterday, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdel Karim Khalaf told state television.

Senior Iraqi provincial leaders and U.S.-led forces from the province were holding a festival, which involved more than 800 people from across the Sunni and Shiite sects and several tribes, the U.S. military said today in an e-mailed statement. Al-Qaeda carried out the assault, the military said.

Among the dead was the head of a Shiite delegation, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tamimi, and Ali Daleen al-Jourani, a local police chief, state television reported.

The attack shattered the relative calm that has prevailed since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Sept. 13. Attacks across Iraq have fallen to their lowest level since the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra that sparked a wave of sectarian bloodshed, Lieutenant-General Ray Odierno, the number two U.S. commander in Iraq, said Sept. 20.

``Once again, al-Qaeda demonstrated the hatred they have for the citizens of Iraq by conducting a despicable attack against its people during one of their most revered celebrations -- Ramadan,'' Colonel David W. Sutherland, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division commander, said in the U.S. statement.

``This attack will not stop the provincial government's efforts to reconcile the tribes and help them put aside their differences to achieve unity,'' Ra'ad al-Tamimi, Diyala province governor, said in the statement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Camilla Hall in London at chall24@bloomberg.net; Robin Stringer in London at rstringer@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 25, 2007 07:12 EDT